Dynamic management of audiovisual and data communications

ABSTRACT

A device, system and method are provided to dynamically manage bandwidth for audiovisual communications and content distribution. The device, system and method may include dynamic qualification of content or channels for distribution in accordance with one or more distribution models, such as a broadcast distribution model and a narrowcast distribution model (e.g., a multicast distribution model and/or a unicast distribution model). In some embodiments, the qualification may be based on demand as reflected in requests for, or access to, content from user terminals. In some embodiments, based on changes in demand for content, a requalification of the content in terms of one or more distribution models may take place.

BACKGROUND

1. Field of the Disclosure

This disclosure relates to content provisioning, distribution,transmission, and delivery and, to a device, system and method todynamically manage bandwidth for audiovisual and data communications.

2. Description of the Background

In a distribution network, numerous discrete, preassigned groups ofusers, typically referred to as population pools, may be served or haveaccess to content. Each user may receive content that is received by allusers, by users of multiple population pools, and may additionallyreceive, or have available for request, unique content available for useby that user, by a subset of users, or by one or certain populationpools, at any given time.

Broadcast content, as would be understood to those skilled in thepertinent arts, is content that may be constantly transmitted orotherwise made available to many or all users.

Narrowcast content, such as content delivered via switched digital video(SDV) and video on demand (VOD) technologies, enables content andnetwork providers to offer a wider variety of content and programming.In a SDV system, for example, unwatched or rarely watched content may betransmitted only into the population pool or pools, and/or only to theusers, and/or only at the times, that the content is requested.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

In one aspect, the disclosure relates to a device, system and method todynamically manage bandwidth for content distribution, such as audio,video, and/or data. The device, system and method may include dynamicqualification of content for distribution as broadcast content ornarrowcast content (e.g., multicast and/or unicast content).

In another aspect, the device, system and method may include at leastone broadcast server (e.g., any server configured to provide broadcastcommunications) having associated therewith at least one broadcastcontent lineup and at least two narrowcast servers (e.g., unicastservers) each having associated therewith at least one narrowcastcontent lineup. At least two population pools may accept popular contentcomprised of the broadcast lineup from the at least one broadcastserver, and narrowcast content comprised of a respective one of thenarrowcast lineups from one of the at least two narrowcast servers. Atleast one service manager may detect a number of viewers of at least oneof the popular content and the narrowcast content. In some embodiments,upon the number of viewers meeting or falling below a pre-determinedthreshold, the at least one service manager may qualify the popularcontent to the respective narrowcast lineup. In some embodiments, the atleast one service manager may qualify the narrowcast content to thebroadcast lineup.

In some embodiments, a service manager may comprise, for example, one ormore servers. A broadcast server may comprise any suitable server knownto those skilled in the pertinent arts. The narrowcast servers maycomprise, for example, multicast and/or unicast servers. The narrowcastlineup may comprise, for example, a switched digital video lineup, or avideo on demand lineup.

In some embodiments, a device, system and method may employ a one-to-onecorrespondence between requalified narrowcast content and requalifiedbroadcast content, e.g., for each narrowcast content that isrequalified, broadcast content may be correspondingly requalified. Thus,requalification may be dependent on a threshold number of viewers ofeither or both of narrowcast content and/or broadcast content. In someembodiments, a different ratio of correspondence (e.g., many-to-one orone-to-many) between the requalified narrowcast content and therequalified broadcast content may be used.

Other aspects of this disclosure may provide a device, system and methodto dynamically manage bandwidth for audiovisual communications andcontent distribution.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present disclosure is pointed out with particularity in the appendedclaims. Features of the disclosure will become more apparent upon areview of this disclosure in its entirety, including the drawing figuresprovided herewith.

Some features herein are illustrated by way of example, and not by wayof limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in whichlike reference numerals refer to similar elements.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example information distribution network.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example hardware platform on which the variouselements described herein can be implemented.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating aspects of a distribution networkin accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a service manager system inaccordance with one or more aspects of the disclosure.

FIG. 5 illustrates a method suitable for demonstrating one or moreaspects of this disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various connections between elements are discussed in the followingdescription. These connections are general and, unless specifiedotherwise, may be direct or indirect, wired or wireless, and thisspecification is not intended to be limiting in this respect.

In the following description of various illustrative embodiments,reference is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a parthereof, and in which is shown, by way of illustration, variousembodiments in which aspects of the disclosure may be practiced. It isto be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structuraland functional modifications may be made, without departing from thescope of the present disclosure.

It is to be understood that the figures and descriptions have beensimplified to illustrate elements that are relevant for a clearunderstanding, while eliminating, for the purpose of brevity, many otherelements found in typical audiovisual content distribution networks,devices, systems and methodologies. Those of ordinary skill in the artwill thus recognize that other elements and/or steps may be used inimplementing this disclosure. However, because such elements and stepsare well known in the art, a discussion of such elements and steps isnot provided herein. The disclosure herein is directed to all suchvariations and modifications of such elements and methods known to thoseskilled in the art. Furthermore, the embodiments identified andillustrated herein are for illustrative purposes only, and are not meantto be exclusive or limited in their description.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example distribution network 100 on which many ofthe various features described herein may be implemented. Network 100may be any type of distribution network, such as satellite, telephone,cellular, wireless, etc. One example may be an optical fiber network, acoaxial cable network or a hybrid fiber/coax distribution network. Suchnetworks 100 may use a series of interconnected communication lines 101(e.g., coaxial cables, optical fibers, wireless, etc.) to connectmultiple premises 102 (e.g., businesses, homes, consumer dwellings,etc.) to a central office or headend 103. The central office 103 maytransmit downstream information signals onto the lines 101, and eachpremises 102 may have a receiver used to receive and process thosesignals.

There may be one line 101 originating from the central office 103, andit may be split a number of times to distribute the signal to variouspremises 102 in the vicinity (which may be many miles) of the centraloffice 103. The lines 101 may include components not illustrated, suchas splitters, filters, amplifiers, etc. to help convey the signalclearly, but in general each split may introduce a bit of signaldegradation. Portions of the lines 101 may also be implemented withfiber-optic cable, while other portions may be implemented with coaxialcable, other lines, or wireless communication paths. By running fiberoptic cable along some portions, for example, signal degradation inthose portions may be significantly minimized, allowing a single centraloffice 103 to reach even farther with its network of lines 101 thanbefore.

The central office 103 may include a termination system (TS) 104, suchas a cable modem termination system (CMTS), which may be a computingdevice configured to manage communications between devices on thenetwork of lines 101 and backend devices such as servers 105-107 (to bediscussed further below). The termination system (TS) may be asspecified in a standard, such as the Data Over Cable Service InterfaceSpecification (DOCSIS) standard, published by Cable TelevisionLaboratories, Inc. (a.k.a. CableLabs), or it may be a similar ormodified device instead. The termination system (TS) may be configuredto place data on one or more downstream frequencies to be received bymodems at the various premises 102, and to receive upstreamcommunications from those modems on one or more upstream frequencies.The central office 103 may also include one or more network interfaces108, which can permit the central office 103 to communicate with variousother external networks 109. These networks 109 may include, forexample, networks of Internet devices, telephone networks, cellulartelephone networks, fiber optic networks, local wireless networks (e.g.,WiMAX), satellite networks, and any other desired network, and theinterface 108 may include the corresponding circuitry needed tocommunicate on the network 109, and to other devices on the network suchas a cellular telephone network and its corresponding cell phones 117.

As noted above, the central office 103 may include a variety of servers105-107 that may be configured to perform various functions. Forexample, the central office 103 may include a push notification server105. The push notification server 105 may generate push notifications todeliver data and/or commands to the various premises 102 in the network(or more specifically, to the devices in the premises 102 that areconfigured to detect such notifications). The central office 103 mayalso include a content server 106. The content server 106 may be one ormore computing devices that may be configured to provide content tousers in the premises 102. This content may be, for example, video ondemand movies, television programs, songs, text listings, etc. Thecontent server 106 may include software to validate user identities andentitlements, locate and retrieve requested content, encrypt thecontent, and initiate delivery (e.g., streaming) of the content to therequesting user and/or device.

The central office 103 may also include one or more application servers107. An application server 107 may be a computing device configured tooffer any desired service, and may run various languages and operatingsystems (e.g., servlets and JSP pages running on Tomcat/MySQL, OSX, BSD,Ubuntu, Redhat, HTML5, JavaScript, AJAX and COMET). For example, anapplication server may be responsible for collecting television programlistings information and generating a data download for electronicprogram guide or interactive program guide listings. Another applicationserver may be responsible for monitoring user viewing habits andcollecting that information for use in selecting advertisements. Anotherapplication server may be responsible for formatting and insertingadvertisements in a video stream being transmitted to the premises 102.Another application server may be responsible for receiving user remotecontrol commands, and processing them to provide an intelligent remotecontrol experience.

An example premises 102 a may include a modem 110, which may includetransmitters and receivers used to communicate on the lines 101 and withthe central office 103. The modem 110 may be, for example, a coaxialcable modem (for coaxial cable lines 101), a fiber interface node (forfiber optic lines 101), or any other desired modem device. The modem 110may be connected to, or be a part of, a gateway interface device 111.The gateway interface device 111 may be a computing device thatcommunicates with the modem 110 to allow one or more other devices inpremises 102 a to communicate with the central office 103 and otherdevices beyond the central office. The gateway 111 may be a set-top box(STB), digital video recorder (DVR), computer server, or any otherdesired computing device. The gateway 111 may also include (not shown)local network interfaces to provide communication signals to devices inthe premises 102 a, such as televisions 112, additional STBs 113,personal computers 114, laptop computers 115, wireless devices 116(wireless laptops and netbooks, mobile phones, mobile televisions,personal digital assistants (PDA), etc.), and any other desired devices.Examples of the local network interfaces include Multimedia Over CoaxAlliance (MoCA) interfaces, Ethernet interfaces, universal serial bus(USB) interfaces, wireless interfaces (e.g., IEEE 802.11), Bluetoothinterfaces, and others.

FIG. 2 illustrates general hardware elements that can be used toimplement any of the various computing devices discussed herein. Thecomputing device 200 may include one or more processors 201, which mayexecute instructions of a computer program to perform any of thefeatures described herein. The instructions may be stored in any type ofcomputer-readable medium or memory, to configure the operation of theprocessor 201. For example, instructions may be stored in a read-onlymemory (ROM) 202, random access memory (RAM) 203, removable media 204,such as a Universal Serial Bus (USB) drive, compact disk (CD) or digitalversatile disk (DVD), floppy disk drive, or any other desired electronicstorage medium. Instructions may also be stored in an attached (orinternal) hard drive 205. The computing device 200 may include one ormore output devices, such as a display 206 (or an external television),and may include one or more output device controllers 207, such as avideo processor. There may also be one or more user input devices 208,such as a remote control, keyboard, mouse, touch screen, microphone,etc. The computing device 200 may also include one or more networkinterfaces, such as input/output circuits 209 (such as a network card)to communicate with an external network 210. The network interface maybe a wired interface, wireless interface, or a combination of the two.In some embodiments, the interface 209 may include a modem (e.g., acable modem), and network 210 may include the communication lines 101discussed above, the external network 109, an in-home network, aprovider's wireless, coaxial, fiber, or hybrid fiber/coaxialdistribution system (e.g., a DOCSIS network), or any other desirednetwork.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating aspects of a network 10. In someembodiments, network 10 may include one or more of the devices describedabove in connection with FIGS. 1-2 and may be configured to distributecontent. In some embodiments, network 10 may include a multi systemoperator (MSO) type network. The network 10 may include or serve one ormore population pools (POPs) 12. Population pools 12 may be served byone or several narrowcast servers 14, one or more broadcast servers 16,and at least one edge server 18 corresponding to one or more ofpopulation pools 12, wherein each edge server 18 may serve a pluralityof users 20. Each user 20 may use or correspond to, for example, one ormore terminals, e.g., a computer, a STB, a mobile device, etc.

In network 10, each user 20 may have access to broadcast content andnarrowcast content. A user may access the broadcast content from asingle (or limited number of) broadcast server(s) 16 that serves one ormore population pools 12, and may access the narrowcast content from thenarrowcast server 14 serving the population pool 12 to which that user20 is assigned. In some embodiments, the narrowcast and broadcastcontent may be available to a user 20 simultaneously. In someembodiments, the user 20 may request the narrowcast content in order toobtain access to that narrowcast content.

In some embodiments, a single broadcast server 16 may service one ormore population pools 12. In some embodiments, the group of users and/orterminals forming each population pool 12 may be of a predeterminedsize, such as 25,000 terminals, for example. In some embodiments, thepopulation pools 12 may be simultaneously served by one or a limitednumber of narrowcast servers 14, such as a group of 25 to 50 narrowcastservers, for example. Mainstream or popular content may be assigned, orqualified, to be served by the broadcast server(s) across one or more ofthe population pools in the network 10, and other, non-mainstream orless popular content may be assigned or qualified to be served by thenarrowcast servers across one or more of the population pools.

In some embodiments, a narrowcast server 14 may service niche content,unicast or similar VOD content, SDV content, and/or other non-mainstreamcontent, pursuant to the qualification of the content as non-mainstream.It follows that, in some embodiments, content not qualified asnon-mainstream may be qualified as mainstream content, and thus asbroadcast content.

Aspects of this disclosure include devices, systems and methods ofdynamically tracking and qualifying content for service by either abroadcast server 16 and/or a narrowcast server 14. The devices, systemsand methods for tracking and qualifying content may provide a dynamicassignment or qualification of content, such as channels, to broadcastservers 16 or narrowcast servers 14, such as based on the real timepersistence of content across one or more population pools 12.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram illustrating a system 400. In system 400, aservice manager (SVC MGR) 402 may dynamically track, qualify, assignand/or execute assignment 420 (hereinafter referred to as“qualification”) of content for service by a broadcast server 14 or anarrowcast server 16, such as for eventual access by one or moreterminals corresponding to one or more users 20.

An initial assignment or qualification of channels and/or content may bemade by one or more broadcast servers 14 and narrowcast servers 16. Insome embodiments, the initial assignment or qualification may be basedone or more factors or criteria, such as prior or static viewershipdata. Thereafter, when narrowcast content is detected to be accessed oractive in greater than ‘n’ population pools, where n is a predeterminedthreshold for (temporary) qualification as broadcast content rather thanas narrowcast content, the content may be qualified 420 by servicemanager 402 to the broadcast server 14, such as for a predeterminedperiod of time. Conversely, with respect to the broadcast server 14, ifa particular channel or content has a viewership of only 1, or n,population pools, such content (or channel) may be (re)qualified 420 tothe narrowcast server 16 corresponding to the population pool (or npools) in which the content is requested and/or active, such as for apredetermined time. Thereby, bandwidth of the broadcast server 14 may beconserved.

As used herein, the threshold n may differ for channels or content thatmay be qualified 420 from broadcast to narrowcast, versus channels orcontent that may be reviewed for qualification 420 from narrowcast tobroadcast. The threshold n may allow for variability, such as +/−10%, toaccount for error fluctuation. In some embodiments, the threshold n maybe 1, and no more than 1, for reassignment or requalification of abroadcast channel or content to narrowcast in which the 1 is requested.In some embodiments, the threshold n may be 5 population pools, that is,popularity across 5 narrowcast servers, for qualification 420 ofnarrowcast content or channels to broadcast.

Alternatively, or additionally, a more dynamic interpretation may beused in some embodiments. While the evaluation of a classification ofnarrowcast or broadcast may be based on popularity of content in thebroadcast pool, content or channels may be reassigned or requalifiedfrom narrowcast to broadcast, or broadcast to narrowcast, responsive tonumerous criteria, such as efficient bandwidth allocation or thepopularity of content or channels serviced via narrowcast, for example.The reallocation of content or channels may further serve to maximizeefficiency.

Qualification 420 may be performed by service manager 402. Apredetermined time for which a qualification 420 may be maintained mayinclude a permanent time, a predetermined time until an expiration time,or a predetermined time until an expiration event, such as a duration ofa particular item of content. Thus, the predetermined time may bedependent upon predetermined timeframes, such as the length of certaincontent, a half hour, one hour, three hours, twenty-four hours, or thelike, and/or may be dependent on events or occurrences relating to thesubject of a content item, a channel associated with a content item, orsimilar factors.

Because bandwidth expenditure may be constant for mainstream contentassigned or qualified to broadcast servers 14, and might be non-constantfor content assigned or qualified to narrowcast servers 16, bandwidthmay be conserved using dynamic assignment/qualification 420 by servicemanager 402 of content, such that only intermittent dedication ofbroadcast bandwidth may be used for particular, lesser-watched content.As such, a dynamic qualification 420 of content or a channel, such as aqualification based on a number of users requesting content or a channelat a given time, may conserve bandwidth.

Service manager 402 may be, for example, a server, node, or the like,and may have processing capabilities and communicative connections thatprovide for a tracking of usage of one or more channels and contentitems. In some embodiments, the tracking of usage may take place at apopulation pool level. In order to perform the processing discussedherein, service manager 402 may include, and/or have access to, one ormore processors or microprocessors associated with one or more datastorage mechanisms, such as computing memory, for storing, for example,the usage information discussed herein, and may further includecomputing code resident on the one or more microprocessors and/or theone or more data storage mechanisms. The computing code, when executedby the one or more processors, may cause the implementation of thesystems and methods discussed herein, for example.

The communicative connections of service manager 402 may include one ormore network connections, wherein the network connections provide forcommunications between one or more microprocessor-based computingsystems. For the purposes of the disclosure, illustrative embodimentshave been discussed with respect to a distribution network, and thusthose skilled in the pertinent art will appreciate the applicability ofthe present disclosure to include communicative connections of servicemanager 402 via the Internet, an intranet, an extranet, a managednetwork, a cellular network, a satellite network, a television network,or the like, which connections may be present via wired or wirelesstechnology.

In some embodiments, service manager 402 may be remotely accessible. Insome embodiments, service manager 402 may be locally or remotelyprogrammable via one or more available local or networked connections.Based on usage tracking that may be performed, service manager 402 mayevaluate server group activity and qualify 420 or otherwise reassignchannels or content between, for example, the narrowcast servers 16 andbroadcast servers 14. In certain illustrative embodiments, evaluationlogic that may be included in, or associated with, service manager 402may ensure that content qualifications 420 do not adversely impact usersor viewers. For example, service manager 402 may ensure that particularprograms remain available, that system errors are not generated, thatchannel conflicts are avoided, and the like, for example.

In an example illustrated with reference to FIG. 4, n may be determinedto be 1 population pool, for example. Service manager 402 may trackusage by the population pools 12 of the broadcast content, and maydetect four population pools 12 viewing content A at a given time.Because n equals 1 population pool in this example, service manager 402may maintain qualification 420 of content A to the broadcast server 14because four population pools 12 is greater than n=1 population pool.

Continuing the above example, with n equal to 1, if only 1 populationpool is detected as viewing or otherwise accessing content A, content Amay be qualified to the narrowcast server 16 for that pool. In otherwords, because the number of viewing pools of content A is equal to orless than n, service manager 402 may (re)assign or (re)qualify content Ato the narrowcast server 16 of the pool viewing content A at that time.

In some embodiments, content may be precluded from reassignment orrequalification (e.g., reassignment from broadcast to narrowcast, orvice versa). The preclusion may apply permanently, or may apply for acertain timeframe. In some embodiments, reassignment/requalification 420may occur on paired channels or content, that is, if one particularchannel or content item is reassigned or requalified from broadcast tonarrowcast, a second channel or content item may correspondingly bereassigned or requalified from narrowcast to broadcast. Yet further, itwill be appreciated that dynamic reassignment or requalification mayoccur based on n as a number of population pools, as a number of groupsof multiple population pools, as a number of users, as a number ofgroups of users, or the like.

In one illustrative example, a particular sports channel or content itemmay be narrowcast. But, for example, in the event a famous, frequentwinner of the Tour de France comes out of retirement to participate inthe race, viewership demand may dictate that the particular sportschannel or content item be reassigned or requalified to broadcast.Likewise, certain content, such as Major League Baseball games on adedicated baseball channel, for example, may be more popular at certaintimes of year, such as during the fall baseball playoff race, and atsuch times of year should be broadcast. However, content on that samebaseball dedicated channel may have little or no viewership during thewinter months, for example. Thus, in some embodiments, content orchannels may be reassigned or requalified to account for, or respond to,changes in anticipated or actual demand, optionally based on one or moreevents, the time of day, month, or year, etc.

The ability to reassign or requalify channels or content betweenservers, or tiers of servers, may help to manage bandwidth in portionsor throughout a network. Further, dynamic assessment of the needs ofparticular population pools may provide for a reduction in equipmentneeded, in part because the equipment may be subject to dynamicbandwidth management.

FIG. 5 illustrates a method that may be used to demonstrate one or moreaspects of this disclosure. The method of FIG. 5 may be executed inconnection with one or more operating environments or networkarchitectures (e.g., the architectures shown in FIGS. 3-4).

In step 504, a content item (or a channel) may be distributed inaccordance with a first distribution model. For example, the firstdistribution model may be a broadcast distribution model. The firstdistribution model may be selected by a content provider, a networkprovider, or one or more devices, such as service manager 402 of FIG. 4.

In step 510, a change may be detected in the number of users requestingthe content item. For example, service manager 402 may monitor datacorresponding to user requests or selections for content. In someembodiments, the frequency with which step 510 is executed may be afunction of the resolution (e.g., a resolution to a network congestionissue) desired by a network or system operator or a content provider.For example, service manager 402 may be configured to execute step 510periodically (e.g., once a day) so as to allow service manager 402 totend to other tasks. In some embodiments, service manager 402 may beconfigured to execute step 510 continuously in order to provide a highdegree of resolution (e.g., in order to provide a high degree ofresponsiveness). In some embodiments, service manager 402 may beconfigured to execute step 510 in connection with one or more events(e.g., a population pool having been added to or deleted from thecoverage provided by service manager 402).

In step 516, a determination may be made whether a number of usersrequesting the content item is equal to a threshold. Continuing theabove example where the content item is distributed (in step 504)according to a broadcast distribution model, if the number of usersrequesting the content item is detected to be equal to (or below) athreshold value, then the ‘Yes’ path out of step 516 may be taken tostep 522. Conversely, if the number of users requesting the content itemis above the threshold value, then the ‘No’ path may be taken out ofstep 516, and the operational flow may return to step 510.

In step 522, the distribution model associated with the content item maybe requalified, such that the content item may be distributed accordingto a second distribution model. Continuing the above example, where thecontent item was distributed according to a broadcast model inconnection with step 504, step 522 may include distributing the contentitem according to a narrowcast distribution model.

In some embodiments, step 528 may be executed to accommodate therequalification performed in connection with step 522. Continuing theabove example, when the content item is requalified from a broadcastdistribution model to the narrowcast distribution model in connectionwith step 522, a second content item may be requalified from the seconddistribution model (e.g., the narrowcast distribution model) to a thirddistribution model in step 528. In some embodiments, the thirddistribution model may be the first distribution model (e.g., thebroadcast distribution model in this example) in order to facilitateone-to-one correspondence between requalified narrowcast content andrequalified broadcast content as described herein.

In the example described above, a content item was requalified from abroadcast distribution model to a narrowcast distribution model based ona number of requesting users being equal to or less than a thresholdvalue. The method of FIG. 5 may also accommodate other scenarios, suchas requalifying a content item (or channel) from a narrowcastdistribution model to a broadcast distribution model based on a numberof requesting users being equal to or greater than a threshold value.Based on demand or other factors, a given content item or channel may berequalified any number of times, optionally using the same or differentthreshold values each time.

In some embodiments, hysteresis may be applied to the threshold value(s)used in order to avoid unnecessary or repetitive requalification. Thehysteresis may be a function of time in some embodiments (e.g., arelatively large value for the hysteresis may be used initially, and thehysteresis may decline in terms of magnitude over time).

The method of FIG. 5 is illustrative. In some embodiments, one or moreof the steps shown in FIG. 5 may be optional, and steps not shown may beincluded or added. Moreover, the order or sequence of steps may bemodified in some embodiments.

Although not required, various aspects described herein may be embodiedas a method, a data processing system, and/or as a transitory and/ornon-transitory computer-readable medium storing executable instructions.Accordingly, those aspects may take the form of an entirely hardwareembodiment, an entirely software embodiment, an entirely firmwareembodiment, or an embodiment combining software, firmware and hardwareaspects. The functionality may be resident in a single computing device,or may be distributed across multiple computing devices/platforms, themultiple computing devices/platforms optionally being connected to oneanother via one or more networks. Moreover, the structural componentsdescribed herein may be distributed amongst one or more devices,optionally within a common housing or casing.

Various signals representing content, data, or events as describedherein may be transferred between a source and a destination in the formof electromagnetic waves traveling through signal-conducting media suchas metal wires, optical fibers, and/or wireless transmission media(e.g., air and/or space).

The various methods and acts may be operative across one or morecomputing servers and one or more networks. The functionality may bedistributed in any manner, or may be located in a single computingdevice (e.g., a server, a client computer, etc.). As discussed herein,content may be distributed to intermediary/network components andclient-side devices at various times and in various formats. Thedistribution and transmission techniques described herein may leverageexisting components and infrastructure to minimize power dissipation,operational complexity, footprint size, and management involvement,amongst other factors and costs.

The methodological acts and processes may be tied to particular machinesor apparatuses. For example, as described herein, content maydistributed to a user location or user premises via one or morecomputing devices (e.g., servers) and that content may be accessed ordisplayed at the user location via one or more terminals and/or displaydevices. The content may be formatted in accordance with one or moretransmission techniques, types, or protocols, such as broadcast andnarrowcast and reassignment or requalification between the varioustechniques, types, or protocols may be facilitated based on one or morefactors or criteria. More generally, one or more computers may includeone or more processors and memory storing instructions, that whenexecuted, perform the methodological acts and processes describedherein. Furthermore, the methodological acts and processes describedherein may perform a variety of functions including transforming anarticle (e.g., content distributed in accordance with a firstdistribution model, such as broadcast) into a different state or thing(e.g., content distributed in accordance with a second distributionmodel, such as narrowcast).

Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that manymodifications and variations of this disclosure may be implementedwithout departing from the spirit or scope. Thus, it is intended thatthe disclosure cover the modifications and variations, provided theycome within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system comprising: a broadcast server; anarrowcast server; and a service manager configured to: detect a numberof user terminals accessing content provided by the broadcast server andthe narrowcast server; and upon the number of user terminals meeting apre-determined threshold, qualify for a predetermined timeframe at leastone of a first content item provided by the broadcast server to beprovided by the narrowcast server and a second content item provided bythe narrowcast server to be provided by the broadcast server.
 2. Thesystem of claim 1, further comprising at least one edge server coupledto said broadcast server and said narrowcast server, wherein said edgeserver is configured to transmit the at least one of said first contentitem and said second content items provided by said broadcast server andsaid narrowcast server to said user terminals.
 3. The system of claim 1,wherein said narrowcast server is configured to provide contentaccording to a unicast distribution model.
 4. The system of claim 1,wherein the narrowcast server is configured to provide a video on demandlineup.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein an initial qualification isperformed on one of the first and second content items prior to thequalification.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein the service manager isfurther configured to: after the end of the predetermined timeframe,requalify at least one of: the first content item to be provided by thebroadcast server if the first content item was qualified, and the secondcontent item to be provided by the narrowcast server if the secondcontent item was qualified.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein thepredetermined timeframe corresponds to a duration of at least one of thefirst content item and the second content item.
 8. The system of claim1, wherein the predetermined timeframe corresponds to a duration of thequalified content item.
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein said servicemanager comprises at least one server and said user terminals eachcomprise at least one of a computer, a set-top box, and a mobile device.10. A method comprising: distributing a first content item to at leastone user terminal according to a first distribution model; detecting achange in a number of user terminals accessing the first content item;determining, in response to the detected change in the number of userterminals, that the number of user terminals exceeds a threshold;responsive to determining that the number of user terminals exceeds thethreshold, qualifying the first content item to be distributed accordingto a second distribution model different from the first distributionmodel for a predetermined time frame, wherein the second distributionmodel is a narrowcast model; and responsive to qualifying the firstcontent item to be distributed according to the second distributionmodel, qualifying a second content item to be distributed according to athird distribution model.
 11. The method of claim 10, wherein the firstdistribution model comprises a broadcast distribution model, and whereinthe determining that the number of user terminals exceeds a thresholdcomprises determining that the number of user terminals is less than orequal to a threshold value.
 12. The method of claim 10, furthercomprising: determining that the first content item and the secondcontent item comprise paired content items; and responsive todetermining that the first content item and the second content itemcomprise paired content items, performing the step of qualifying thesecond content item, wherein the third distribution model is the same asthe first distribution model.
 13. The method of claim 10, wherein thethird distribution model is the same as the first distribution model.14. The method of claim 10, wherein the threshold is based at least inpart on a threshold value and hysteresis associated with the thresholdvalue, and wherein the hysteresis is a function of time.
 15. The methodof claim 10, wherein the at least one user terminal is included in atleast one population pool, and wherein detecting a change in a number ofuser terminals comprises detecting a change in a number of userterminals accessing the first content item in the at least onepopulation pool.
 16. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor;and memory storing instructions that, when executed by said at least oneprocessor, cause the apparatus to: qualify a first content item to bedistributed according to a first distribution model; detect a change ina number of user terminals accessing the first content item; determine,in response to the detected change in the number of user terminals, thatthe number of user terminals exceeds a threshold; responsive todetermining that the number of user terminals exceeds the threshold,requalify the first content item to be distributed according to a seconddistribution model different from the first distribution model for apredetermined time frame, wherein the second distribution model is anarrowcast model; and responsive to requalifying the first content itemto be distributed according to the second distribution model, qualify asecond content item to be distributed according to a third distributionmodel.
 17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:determine that the first content item and the second content itemcomprise paired content items; and responsive to determining that thefirst content item and the second content item comprise paired contentitems, perform the qualification of the second content item, wherein thethird distribution model is the same as the first distribution model.18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the apparatus is adapted todetect the change in the number of user terminals periodically.
 19. Theapparatus of claim 16, wherein the requalification of the first contentitem to be distributed according to the second distribution modelcomprises a temporary requalification.